Listen to Gary Mabbutt talking about his friend Paul Gascoigne on BBC Radio Five Live: parts one and two

Sir Alex Ferguson says his biggest regret was not being able to persuade Paul Gascoigne to join Manchester United.

Ferguson may have won ten Premier League titles and two European Cups during his time at Old Trafford, but his failure to sign the England international still rankles.

Gascoigne was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for the second time in five months yesterday and In the wake of the player's latest personal crisis Ferguson says he believed he could have helped the troubled star and instilled some discipline into him.

"Alan Shearer is one I wish I'd signed, but for me the most disappointing of all was Paul Gascoigne," Ferguson said. "He was the best player of his era, a breath of fresh air because he played with a smile.

"Around 1987, when Newcastle were bobbing above the relegation zone, we played them and my three central midfielders that day were Bryan Robson, Norman Whiteside and Remi Moses. All great footballers and he just tore them apart.

"Robbo and Whiteside were chasing him up and down the pitch and they couldn't get near him.

"We spoke to him the night before I went on holiday. He says 'Go and enjoy yourself Mr Ferguson, I'll be signing for Manchester United'.

"So I went on my holidays but Martin Edwards [then chairman] rang and said 'I've got some bad news - he signed for Tottenham. They bought a house for his mother and father in the North East and that swung it'.

"I think it was a bad mistake, and Paul admits it. We had Bryan Robson, a Geordie, Steve Bruce, a Geordie, Gary Pallister, from Middlesbrough... We had a structure of players who could have helped him and it could have given him some discipline."